Friday, March 14, 2014

1) What does it tell you that Baltimore, New England, San Diego, Seattle and Washington all showed serious interest in an unemployed man in the first 24 hours after he became unemployed? It tells me -- once again -- that Panther general manager Dave Gettleman made a major mistake by firing Steve Smith and that other teams were standing in line trying to take advantage of it. This was Gettleman's gaffe, and it will haunt him unless the Panthers go 12-4 again.

2) Smith certainly landed well, with a $3.5-million signing bonus with the Baltimore Ravens on the first free-agent visit of his career (and the Panthers still owe him $5 million). And he's an hour plane ride from home. And John Harbaugh is certainly the nicer of the two Harbaugh brothers (and also the only one of them with a Super Bowl ring as a head coach). And Joe Flacco is a heck of a quarterback who was a Super Bowl MVP. And the Ravens' receiving corps is way, way better than Carolina's right now, with Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones already in the fold.

3) Gettleman's five-paragraph statement when releasing Smith did a tiny bit of good in trying to repair the PR damage caused by this move, but not much. He said it was "imperative to take an unemotional global view." I get that. What I don't get is that Gettleman still hasn't answered the main question -- the only question really -- which is: "Why?" As I mentioned on Twitter:

The way Baltimore (and New Eng unsuccessfully) jumped on trying to sign Smith tells me again Gettleman made a mistake on this one.

Gettleman has done himself a disservice on this one, first with the roster move itself (here's my original column ripping it) but secondly by choosing not to answer questions from reporters about it. Somebody over at Bank of America Stadium needs to tell him that.

4) The Panthers' game at Baltimore? I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts they stick that one in prime time now when the NFL schedule comes out next month.

31 comments:

Been a panther fan since 1995 through the good the bad and the ugly!The only glimmer of hope was Steve Smith!the moves this GM has made makes you think this team is getting sold to some other city and he's just cleaning house!I will be headed to Baltimore with MR.Steve Smith Sr.aka agent89 so long panthers! ICE UP GM! ICE UP!

This SCOUT has had the worst off season in Panther history and it's only March. Who cares what he "did" last year, when did that ever matter in the NFL? Sure, he signed a few band aid guys that panned out ok but they're all gone now, just like the entire WR corp, now what? Run the wildcat every down? He banked on Hakeem Nicks giving him a hometown and friend discount to replace 89, well how did that work out? He wasn't that good anyway but now there are no #1 receivers out there and the SCOUT cut the best one we had with only the "hope" of signing someone to "replace" him.

I can honestly say I've never been so disgusted with this team, not only because of the blatant disrespect the SCOUT showed 89 but how pompous and arrogant he has been throughout this ordeal. The WR situation is a disaster of epic proportions and of the SCOUT's own making and he has nobody to blame but himself. He blathered in his statement about not making emotional decisions but that's exactly what he did, he cut 89 because he didn't like him and five seconds later, a real team with a REAL GM scooped him up. This will come back to bite him and will be one of the reasons he's the shortest tenured GM in our history, but we'll know he was never anything more than a glorified SCOUT. #GettleBUM

And now Nicks has signed with Indie. THIS will come back and bite the Panthers. WORST mistake in their history. And WHO Will have to pay for it when we have a losing record? Will it be Ron or the REAL Culprit Gettleman? And also, I am very disappointed that Mr. Richardson approved this move. I am done.

I am one of the fans that understands letting go of Smith for leadership purposes.The team kept losing it's cool in critical spots, especially the SF game. This is reflective of Smith's influence.However, this debacle has been thoroughly bungled.Cam is coming into the prime of his career and needs to establish intimate knowledge and repetition with his receivers to break through.Frequent turnover in the WR corps and not having any top talent undermines Cam and our whole team.

Resigning Lafell reeks of desperation. An aging Smith is 10 times better if you could have convinced him to keep his mouth shut.

The scary thing is that Gettlemen thinks he can get 4-5 starters in the draft while the average is usually 1.5.His Kugbila pick last year is of great concern about his late round picks.

That's not how sports work. Do you really think the Panthers would begin a giant stadium renovation just to move? We got rid of a player that is 35 years old, we're not selling the team. Please cheer for the Ravens, I am sure you will pretend you are a Panthers fan anyways if we make the playoffs.

I question the football decision on many levels, but I'm willing to accept that there might've been good reasons for the move itself.

My biggest problem with it is the classless way in which it was handled. Steve Smith deserved to hear about it before anyone else did. Blindsiding him at the combine was disrespectful, compounded by how long they left him twisting in the wind before Gettleman finally sat down with Smith in person. Comments from Smith after that meeting also implied that he wasn't really given a straight answer, even then!

Given the loyalty shown to Fox and Hurney as contrast, as well as the way Richardson had always supported and stood by Steve in his early career, this does not appear to have been handled in the "Panther way".

This sends a major message to the locker room that nobody on this team is valued by management. That message is likely also heard league wide by any potential free agents. At the very least, I'd suspect that any free agent WR approached by Carolina is going to want more guaranteed money up-front before signing here.

As easy as it is to put all the blame on Gettleman, I'm putting this on Richardson. He's just hired a rookie GM and as owner, it's HIS job to teach that GM the culture and personnel practices of the team. Absolutely nothing would've been lost by treating Smith with the respect that he's earned. That no attempt was made to do so, is the most embarrassing feature of this debacle!

Welcome to NASCAR country Mr. Gettleman, please attach a yellow stripe to your office door to remind Mr. Richardson that you are still a rookie at this level!

As I have said previously, if you are HUGE fan of Steve Smith, then be happy for him. He has a much better chance of getting that elusive Super Bowl ring before he retires with the Ravens then he did here as a Panther. Gettleman did him a favor.

Scott, I agree with you. Some teams ie, Baltimore are more supportive of keeping veteran player. Unfortunately for Panther fans, the focus by current management is to rebuild with youth and this doesn't translate to keeping fan favorites and older players on the roster. I will miss Steve Smith and the excitement and energy he brought to the team. I wish him success with his new team. Now we must wait and see if Gettleman's decisions bode well for the Panthers.

Reminds me of the Muhsin Muhamad deal years ago.Team on verge of greatness,management thinks it can upgrade AND save money by letting Jakes favorite receiver go.Nobody else worked out.Team took years to recover.Smitty,like Moose did more than catch passes.Block,lead, work hard,love Charlotte.Wish we could learn from past mistakes.Everyone but Gettleman knows 89 will burn us in the future.

out of the guys ON the roster.....17 of the current projected starters (counting kicker and punter) were from before this guy got here. only blackburn and lotulelei came on after. so even if they are successful, it's going to be mostly INSPITE of what the guy is doing, not because of.

unless we somehow contend on the back of a bargain basement signing and some rookies. inconceivable. if we are any good, it's with hurney's guys and evident that we would have been better with hurney as we would have had smith and beason instead of minimal savings, a ton of dead cap space, and a 7th round pick.

Smith gone because he is old and slow. Oh come on. If that was true then why did all the teams line up for him. And he got 3.5 mil. and 3 more years. come on. He still had it. Proof was in the play. he was double teamed almost every time he was in. With no receivers and alot of the line retiring, looking for a 2 win season and a number 1 draft pick. But as bad as I hate what is going on, I WILL STILL BE A PANTHER FAN.

Lots of inaccuracies here. Smith the time bomb dropped a lot of passes last year. I agree should have signed someone before letting him walk. The real problem we have is Hurney giving everyone including two running backs huge contracts and one of them is NEVER healthy. No both are past their prime and are killing us on the salary cap. Gross retiring is the biggest loss along with smith, the other guys not so much.

The smartest thing they did was let Steve Smith go and should have done it sooner.

We need better leaders than Smith could be. He had too much of a hot head and why should our team spend more time being targets for other teams cause they are ticked off at him. That is not team unison that will go anywhere.

I know how sports works also no that the renovations almost didn't happen city put it to a vote because of the clause in the ownership contract that 2 years after the Death of Jerry Richardson the panthers are to be SOLD!! so here in about 5 or so years don't be surprised if its the Oklahoma City Panthers,or the L.A Panthers or worse yet the London Panthers!!

It would actually be nice to share an opinion Scott... but between the Observer's current Facebook obsession with comments or your colleagues tendency to kill any comment that disagrees with their (obvious) knowledge it' practically impossible to do so. Interesting that the only way to add the opinion that the Panthers are in real trouble - and that many of us fans are moving on - is through the third party Blogger site...

Back to 8-8 if they are lucky. Now they can point criticism towards the GM instead of the coaching staff. Last season was fantastic, up coming season will be long an painful in a refurbished stadium that the tax payers paying most of the bill. And in return...back to wishing and hoping.

I have been a Panther Fan from the Start, I even moved to Tampa and still did support the Panthers ..... But what the GM is doing here is about what happened in Tampa a couple of years back ... he let go of all of the stars on the team, then the Fans stopped buying tickets and they had lots of blackouts in Tampa, I am afraid that if the GM keeps this up this will be a rebuilding year and we as Fans will have no reason to buy any tickets ... because as a fan I do not want to watch a rebuilding year ... I would rather go fishing and do something else now with my time